For more than four decades, documentary filmmaker Tony Buba has chronicled the good, bad, and absurd in his hometown of Braddock, Pennsylvania, establishing an unmistakable filmography that foregrounds the plight of the working class while defying simple classification. In No Place but Home, a documentary short that I produced with filmmaker Ryan Loew, we examine Buba’s storied career as told in his own words. This documentary short was produced as a collaboration between Carnegie Museum of Art and 90.5 WESA.

On Thursday, August 4th, No Place but Home premiered during a screening at Carnegie Museum of Art, with Tony Buba as the guest of honor. After the premiere, Buba presented a selection of his films, including Betty’s Corner Café (1976), Washing Walls with Mrs. G. (1980), Mill Hunk Herald (1981), Fade Out (1998), Ode to a Steeltown (2007), and a never-before-seen short. Following the screening, I had the pleasure of interviewing Tony about his career, and leading a Q&A with the sold-out crowd.

The Double Exposure Series, part of Carnegie Museum of Art’s Time-Based Media Project, presents contemporary perspectives on pioneers of the past. The series features artists, preservationists, curators, and scholars discussing the legacy of avant-garde film and video of the 1960s–1980s, including works in CMOA’s permanent collection and beyond. With funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Time-Based Media Project is a multifaceted initiative focused on stewarding the museum’s film, video, audio, and computer-based artworks into the future, as well as catalyzing research and discussion in the field.

Capacity crowd at the No Place but Home screening at Carnegie Museum of Art on Thursday, August 4, 2016. Photograph by Bryan Conley.

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About the Author

Matthew Newton is a writer and editor from Western Pennsylvania whose work is focused on place and identity. He has written essays, many about class and culture, for Guernica, The Oxford American, and The Rumpus, and his reporting has appeared in The Atlantic, Esquire, Forbes, and Spin. Read more